bill. how many amendments are in order. how much time they are going to debate it that's what they did today. it's not it going to have any amendments. i wonder if we would take that much time to debate. this i'm hearing we could wrap this up in the earliest scenario. maybe arched 10:00 eastern. in the latest scenario maybe 11 to 11:15 p.m. eastern. >> bret: okay. chad pergram with some so-so news if we have to hang around that long for this vote we will see. we will head back for all the latest. thank you. stand by we're watching all the fiscal cliff action on capitol hill. this is is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier live in washington. let's listen in to congressman dryer quickly and then i will bring in the panel tonight. >> kind remarks and with that i reserve the balance of my time.

>> the gentleman reserves injuries the gentleman from new york. >> i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from colorado. >> the colorado from colorado is recognized for two minutes. >> i want to acknowledge the long service of our chair in the house and that could well be the last time we have the opportunity to debate here on the house floor and i wish him well 86 want to express my gratitude to the great patriotism of colleagues democratic and republican particularly those in their lame duck period who have chose ton stay around and work right up to the final hour of the contract with the american people in many cases without an office. in many cases without a home. we see them roaming the halls here of the capital. regardless of how they come down on this particular issue applaud their patriotism and their will for voting for the 112th congress. what we have before us has some good aspects and some aspects that need to be improved. the question is on what side there is more weight.

it is important to talk about what this bill does and what it doesn't do. what it doesn't do. michael bennett is one of the small group of senators who voted against it because he like myself a an advocate of a comprehensive budget solution, reis storing fiscal parameters to our country. along the parameters of what the bowles simpson commission the gang of eight ait tempted to accomplish. it is so important to the future of our country to balance the budget and restore the fiscal integrity. this bill is not that bill. however, what this bill does is it ensures that the american people will not have the largest tax increase in the history of our country tomorrow. $2,000 a year out of the pocket of families making $80,000 a year. almost $4,000 a year out of the pocket of families making $150,000 a year. what does that mean to families? it might be the money that helps them stay above water on their mortgage.

it might be the money that alous their child to attend college. beyond the ramifications at the family level there is thining aggregate effect across the economy. when families don't have that money they it are not able to spend the money to buy products that need to be produced. have jobs in america and create jobs. i think we need to make sure that we don't raise taxes on the american people. the best way to do that is by supporting this bill. anybody opposing this bill is supporting the largest tax increase in the history of the country. i call upon my colleagues democratic and republican to remove this tax burden from the middle class and ensure that taxes don't go up tomorrow. i encourage my colleagues to support the rule and the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentleman, time is expired. the gentleman from california. >> bret: by the way, the chair there is congressman ben quayle the son of the former vice president. and he lost his race in arizona

but is now chairing this debate in the 112th congress. the debate on the rule. it continues before we get to the debate and the vote on the senate bill. as we talk about and look at live at the house floor we will cover all of the action here on fox news channel. bring in our panel tonight. steve hayes, senior writer for the weekly standard. a.b. stoddard associate editor of the hill and charles krauthammer. looks like it could be a long evening here. the bottom line is it looks like republicans going to hein up behind this fiscal cliff legislation. >> i think at the end of the long road or at the bottom of the cliff but we are now being returned to the top because nothing really happens until the markets open tomorrow. and this will be done before the markets open. and this will pass. and that means that everything drastic that would have happened automatically, the

hike in tax rates, income tax rates for everybody, the alternative minimum tax, all of these things which have taken a huge bite out of consumers and citizens that is all going to be avoided. this was sort of written in stone for two reasons as of yesterday. number one, the republican leadership does not have a fallback. they thought they might have one which is to do an amendment, send it to the senate but they realized that would be a loser. the president would come out and denounce and the senate wouldn't look at it. the other reason is the size of the vote last night in the senate. 89-9. i think it was 89-9. which was so overwhelming it it really left the republican in the house with no option. had it been a close vote say in the the mid 50s you could have had republicans in the house saying we have to amend this. but if so many republicans agreed to this in the senate it

is a done deal and it will be done tonight. >> bret: a.b., we are watching well basically the sausage being made in washington and increasingly here it has been legislative action that is pushed up against a cliff and you have seen it time and time again and we are going to see it again in just a matter of weeks against the debt ceiling debate where republicans it appears if they pass this which it seems they will will really have their spending cut battle then. >> right. what you will hear in the hours to follow, the passage of this band aid is that it is so great because it provided new tax cuts that expired yesterday for 99% of taxpayers and on and on. about how we were rescued from the cliff and the republic will survive. but it is true that this really didn't anything -- didn't do anything to address our problems and new fights ensue. the sequester which was designed in the budget control

act of august of 2011 which ed henry was referring to originally to control our budget did not. the sequestered cuts that were so hideous that neither party could live with them live on. we have a two month patch until we deal with the cuts again. the debt ceiling increase to battle over. that fight is going to start right up again. but solutions to it will not come right away. so we are going to be again at cross hairs politically but then up against another brink. there will not be serious hearings and real negotiations, lots of give and take, concessions from both sides like we have seen in the last 48 hours. we will not have that in the next 48 days. it will be at the last minute again. it will be just like this. >> bret: steve? >> i will think that is exactly right. this was the case if you go back to july of 2011 it was clear at least i thought at that point that it was and the matter of time, it was matter of courage.

you can lengthen the time as we have done repeatedly throughout the various commissions and discussions. and it doesn't solve the problem. you actually need to get to the point where you get serious about spending. i think first and foremost it will choir presidential leadership. this is something that has not been in evidence. we haven't seen this president eager to get serious about debt and deficits. from the very he beginning of his administration. remember it was in the weeks in inaugurated.augural rated he said entitlement reform would be central to the ability to rein in spending. even in discussions in 2011 about the debt ceiling the president never put forward a real proposal. he talked about being open to serious medicare reforms. we didn't actually see it from the white house. i don't expect we will see it

in the next couple of months. once this is in it the rear view mirror republicans have advantages going into the next series of discussions. not only will it be about the debt ceiling but you will have a focus on spending on the way that we haven't had to this point. the president of the united states starting with the state of the union last year focused on raising taxes and talked about it as the way to solve the deficit problem and talked about the buffett rule in 70santly and campaigned on raising taxes on the wealthy and gave the american people the impression that he could take serious steps toward resolving our fiscal issues by raising taxes. now, taxes have been raised. done mostly what he wanted us to do. the focus now has to be on spending. i think the president can't very well say we need more revenues and we need to raise taxes. we have done that. now, the focus really has to be on spending. >> bret: if you looked at his deficit and debt commission,

the simpson bowles commission and recommendations that came out of there and what has not been followed through now two years ago, is remarkable. >> he is not interested in that. he is not interested in cutting spending. i think if you look at this in the large view it is becoming clear who he is and what he wants to do. he is now in the is second term. he is liberated and he can be open about what he wants to do. regane said in '08 that ray was a historical president in a way that a clinton or a nixon was not. regan changed the nature of the country and got it hooked on low taxes, less government and increase in inequality as obama sees it. he sees his historic role to undo reganism not to cut spending, it is to raise taxes. he let the cat out of the bag monday. in the little rally he held he said to republicans you are not getting any spending cuts today and you know that. he said if you think you can

get spending cuts after this in the rest of the negotiations the answer is no. if you want to cut in spending you have to increase taxes on the rich. remember he got an increase in revenues now by raising the rates on the rich. well, now he is going to return as he said on monday and get increased revenue from the rich by eliminating deductions. the other way to do it. so he has no interest in anything other than raising the taxation to preregan levels so he can support the entitlement stake which is what his presidency is all about. a very long view and i think he is attacking it exactly the right way if you were of his ideology. >> bret: we'll be back with the panel throughout the night and have breaking news. as we head to break, congressman david dreyle er from california. take a listen. he is retiring. this could be one of the last speeches on the house floor. >> that doesn't mean that we as leaders mr. speaker can't work to bridge this divide.

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and with a spirit of compromise. >> bret: looking live at the house floor, congressman david dreier the chairman of the house rules committee, getting ready, preparing the house to vote on the senate-passed bill dealing with the fiscal cliff. we heard tonight already mike eman yell and ed henry talk about this legislation that passed the senate overwhelmingly and some of the sticking points that the house conservatives have had throughout the day. now, white house correspondent wendel goeller takes an in depth look. >> the bill as amended is passed. >> the senate deal passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, extending the bush era tax cuts for families making less than $450,000 a year and

making the lower rates permanent, something former president bush was unable to do because he wasn't able to get two thirds of the stat to go along. that part most republicans are happy with. >> makes some things permanent in the estate fax area and permanent fix to the amt. there are some actual things we like about it. >> the deal saves 30 million people from having to pay the alternative minimum tax by indexing it to inflation. it raises the death tax but the payroll tax will go back to 6.2% an increase willle cost a worker making $100,000 a year about $2,000 more. on the spending side, the deal extends long-term unemployment benefits for are another year. democrats had insisted on it. >> it is critical. want to talk about the real cliff? it is for the people who are about to lose their unemployment compensation. if that is not in the deal that

deal is a real problem. >> there is a five year extension of stimulous tax credits for alternative energy conversion and businesses can take a depreciation on new equipment and buildings. all cuts in medicare payments put off fo another year. the catch all measure even extends a dairy subsidy to keep milk prices from spiking. but the lack of a presidential agreement to cut spending means even if the senate measure passes the house mr. obama can expect added pressure in a matter of weeks when the nation's debt ceiling must be raised again. >> we made the mistake when we increased the debt limit the first time and gave that guy all the money to buy votes with and we shouldn't make the same mistake now. >> the president says congress shouldn't do that because it holds the nation's credit rating hostage but some republicans say that s the only way the guts will happen.

bret? >> bret: as you look live at the house floor we should point out that these are house controlled cameras. we don't control these familiar as. as you look at congressman dreier speaking on the house floor what you can't see is there are not that many lawmakers in the house chamber, in fact, just a few. we just got word that house minority leader nancy pelosi has walked in but there are just a few people listening to congressman dreier. you are one of them here as we have dipped in a couple of times. bring back our panel to talk about the specifics of this legislation. charles the angst in republican circles was about the lack of spending cuts. what republicans who are look at this as a positive are saying is one a permanent protection against the alternative minimum tax, the amt. the deals that they got in here that they don't think they

would have gotten up to the bush tax cuts making the tax rates extending for all income up to $400,000 individually, $450,000 for married couples. are there things in here that republicans can say you know what, this is -- this is a good deal in one sense? >> well, there are thing there's is a really a national consensus on. the doc fix which would automatically kick in a reduction in the amount of payment that a doctor would get for a medicare patient which there was a built in law in the the '90s to cut the spending in medicare. it was a complete disaster. every year it gets waved. and the idea of getting permanence with the estate tax is a good idea. otherwise how do you plan and how do you invest and when do you hire. you know, when do you die.

all of these things are really important to do. i think you could have gotten a consensus any day of the week. the rea real egregious stuff iu are a republican, the price you have to it pay if the other guys win the election and then of course o the fact that you got ciro in spending and not only that but you got a president who said you are not going to get any now and in the future i will extract higher taxes yet on the rich if you want any spending cuts. i think the fight on spending s beginning and obama is going to be very entrenched on this. >> bret: there you see the wide shot from the house. not that many lawmakers are there. the vote, the tally is on again the vote on the rule. not the vote on the actual bill but seth the table for the actual bill. one minute left, a.b., here. the no spending cut deal in

fact increasing spending on the deficit and debt bill that originally that was the purpose of the supercommittee and the purpose of the whole process. >> that's true but tax cuts cost money. that is just the truth. and republicans wanted more. but there are some things that would have happened to our economy that really would have been quite scary and charles you mentioned some of them. truly, the stimulus money doesn't -- is not -- was not going to affect the economy. but the medicare providing doctors closing up their clinics taking a 30% pay cut. the milk fromming go $4 a gallon to $8 or $3 to $8. the loss of the payroll tax cut along with the uninsured having checks cut off as we all lost our tax cuts was really going to be quite incredible and those things though they are not talked about the alternative minimum tax and medicare doc fix and form program that the farm state republicans are fighting for but the rest of the republican leadership was not. this was going be a huge

consumer hit and felt pretty quick le. those things had to be done and as i said earlier you will hear a lot of positive spin about how great they are. >> bret: a quick break. steve i promise you are on the other side with your thoughts about what is in this bill as we get ready for the house of representatives to take up the fiscal cliff legislation. we have you covered here on fox news channel throughout the night. a busy first day of 2013. [ rosa ] i'm rchantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix.

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>> bret: back live here in washington as the house of representatives takes up the senate passed fiscal cliff bill. this is as we as a country are already technically over the fiscal cliff which the deadline was new year's eve 2012. actually when the clock struck

midnight the first minute of 2013. but now the bill is being considered by the house of representatives currently they are voting on what is called the rule and then that will set up the actual debate and vote on the bill itself. we were talking about what is in this bill. there are aren't spending cuts. there -- there aren't spending cuts. there are tax cuts and some tax increases. some rather spending increases, steve. your take on the positives and negatives and how people will portray them? >> well, think they are very few positives. i don't think there is any reason particularly if you are republican to go out and celebrate the fact that for 84% of people or whatever the number is it is a higher number than that, 84% of the bush tax cuts are going to be preserved. are not worth celebrating the fact they will have the same tax rates for the middle class that they had for the past year. i don't see it that as a tremendous accomplishment. particularly when you look at it in the context of the rest

of the stuff in the bills from the tax enpen dithers and stimulus spending that charles is talking about to the tax hikes at a time when the economy isn't taking off. that doesn't sound like a great overall package. if would be like if i ordered a huge plate of nachos right now and pointed to the tomato as the nutritional value. we should focus on the tomato. >> bret: i think i have seen this happen. >> and the sauce and jalapenos. those are vegetables. a huge plate of nachos isn't good for you. focusing on the tomato doesn't make it any better for you. it is just focusing on the tomato. >> bret: there is something about the tax cuts being and liberal democrats arguing that the bush era tax cuts are going to help the economy, that is that some conservatives find refreshing. >> there is sort of a fun hypocrisy pop if you are a conservative or in favor of bush tax rates for the last decade and you know how

strenuously they preh objectedo them when they were first proposed. >> bret: the big fight will happen really over the next six weeks as the debt ceiling we hit it probably the beginning of february, maybe middle of february. that debate and whether to raise the debt ceiling republicans have signald that they are going to use that to try to get spending cuts and entitlement reforms. >> and i expect it going to end up with a patch and what is from the point of view of our fiscal problems another failure as tonight. and the reason is if you have two elements in this the, the president and the republican house which will be on more equal strength and they will resist each other and go to the last minute and they will work out another useless extension and have to fight again. the reason i say that is that everybody spoke about what we would do tax reform after the election and entitlement reform

after the election. we see a president now who is not interested in either and tax reform is the one thing that has debt reduction commission -- that his debt reduction commission had recommend the. when regan worked it out with tip o'neill in 1986 there was an enormous success. eliminate the deductions and lower the rate. this will be a titanic struggle that will not be solved at debt ceiling time. >> bret: check in with mike emanuel up on the hill. we have cameras all over the hill watching things and the speaker of the house is on the move getting ready to vote for the rule. what are we looking at time wise here and what is the prospect for the big vote on the senate the-passed legislation? >> bret, it sounds like they will wrap up this vote around 9:45 or so on the rule and then have another hour of debate.

but honestly the vibe i'm getting from talking to different members is essentially this is kind of on the fast track at this point so to me it would be surprising if they took the full hour of debate to debate this measure when it feels kind of like they feel like they he have the votes to go forward with the bill. the fight really was earlier in the day when conservatives were arguing for spending cuts. they tried to see it they could find consensus on an amendment that would move forward but they were warned by their leadership if they passed the bill with the amendment there was no guarantee that the senate democrats would take it up and republicans could be blamed for going off the fiscal cliff. i can tell you from conversations with various conservatives up here on the hill, i asked them what should they like about this deal if anything and they talked about the permanence issue trying to avoid the washington -made crises if you will of expiring deals at the end of the year. seems like every year the alternative minimum tax is a

crisis at the end of the year. with the permanence it may give a little honesty in budgeting and some people may crack when congress actually does a budget. honesty in terms of the cost of the alternative minimum tax will actually be on the books as opposed to something thrown in at end of the year and not counted officially. >> which s how they have done it. mike emanuel up on the hill. we will h head back for breaking detail as the votenou continues. fiscal cliff watch 2013. [ coug] [ baby crying ] ♪ [ male announcer ] robitussin® liquid formula soothes your throat on contact and the active ingredient relieves your cough. robitussin®. don't suffer the coughequences™.

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>> bret: looking live at the house floor and an agreement on a resolution on the rule and you can see the yays at 263 and the nays at 4. zero time remaining. the rule will pass. that is not a surprise. this is just laying the groundwork again for the vote on the major bill, the fiscal cliff legislation that passed the senate early in the morning with a vote of 89-8. and now it will be considered and voted on in the house. just moments ago the house democratic caucus chair john larson said that he was happen ney they got a deal, wished it was a little different. again, if a democratic perspective. happy for the american people and glad speaker boehner kept his word on an up or down vote. we he just had new video of the speaker walking into the chamber, walking towards the chamber and there you see him

getting ready to cast his vote on the rule. let's listen. do we have audio? it was the silent movie version of john boehner walking to the house chamber. but there was a lot of back and forth today among republicans and definitely within the media when the house majority leader eric cantor came up and said i do not support this bill. mike emanuel back at his post on capitol hill. there was speculation, was this a move by cantor to create some friction? there will be a vote on speakership thursday when the new congress goes in, the 113th congress, noon on thursday. i guess his people are saying that that is not the case at all. well, that's right. they definitely were trying to walk us away from thinking that there s some soap opera going on here in the republican

leadership in the house. but it has been a bruising fight in recent weeks for speaker john boehner. remember, he was negotiating with president obama and walked away from the talks and brought up a plan b. and had 40 or 50 of his members say we will not support, that the idea of raising taxes on those making more than a million dollars. behind closed doors is sunday night with the house republican conference multiple sources inside the room told me he got a standing ovation when thanked his rank and file for their support during this fight. so as of sunday night it sounded like the gang was essentially happy with the speaker but then you had a tough vote coming up here with a lot of conservatives in the house. the majority leader going out on the record saying i'm against this bill as it has come forward even though obviously reading the tea leaves and seeing the wide bipartisan vote from the senate a lot of people felt there was an inevitablity to the bill

going forward. we we asked is there friction or a split they downplayed it and put out the same rehe action that there was unanimity of support and there was a lack of spending cuts in the deal but obviously with the ambitious politicians here on capitol hill you are always looking for the -- somebody trying to ascend to the throne if you will at a moment of weakness. we have been told that is not the case at this point. we saw the two men, eric cantor and speaker john boehner walking shoulder to shoulder earlier this evening. undoubtedly after getting lots of questions about whether they were splitting and whether there was a feud in the family if you will. bottom line, a difficult fight for speaker boehner and he will be up for reelection in a couple of days. >> bret: one of the things that speaker boehner said is that he always wanted to maintain the denny hastert rule which is not

to bring forth a vote unless they have a majority. in other words, that he wouldn't bring that piece of legislation to the floor. he likely is going face a scenario here unless he has whipped a lot of republican lawmakers into voting for this bill that he may have more democratic votes for this senate bill than republican votes. >> you are spot on there, bret. that is something we will be watching. you will be watching. we know that they were outwhipping hard on this earlier this evening. they gave them two options essentially saying do we have 218 votes to go forward on one amendment that would cut spending or where are you on this deal. the senate passed deal that was negotiated between the senate the republican leader and the vice president of the united states. and so clearly they have counted heads. they know where people stand. and we will see. obviously whether kevin mccarthy the house republican whip was able to get enough

republicans to say at end of the day it is important that we not go off the fiscal cliff, that we not get blamed for this or whether it is going be nancy pelosi's democrats that help pull this across the finish line in big numbers. >> bret: okay. mike emanuel watching things up on capitol hill. you know, we just saw speaker boehner walk through what is called the will rogers hallway. just the hallway right in front of the house chamber and beyond there is statutory hall where you see all of these statues of figures from really every state in the nation. the reason the hallway where we are positioned is called will rogers is because in the corner of that hall way is a giant statue of will rogers. so there is explaining that. we are back with the panel. eric cantor just walked by as well. and people would say you know, why are you covering people walking by. you are getting ready for are this vote, a.b., where as i

mentioned you could potentially have a lot of democrats and maybe not as many republicans. do you think that they have turned in the hours since there was all this back and forth enough republicans to say we are going to vote for this? >> it would be hard to imagine if they weren't given the option of the failed bill to say i really first voted for the spending cut amendment, it went down and then i didn't want to go over the cliff and ultimately voted for the senate bill. they usually like to give them a vote for something that fails so they can have an affirmative vote before they vote for the sellout bill that they can't stand. so it is hard to imagine that they would end up in these few hours between what was sort of this revolt to a majority of the majority. it is hard to imagine that it is going be majority of republicans on this. i think they probably found more support than they would have in 2011. but that is a lot of numbers to exceed the democratic vote the. >> bret: what they are doing right now is the roll call. still on the rule.

they will call the actual roll call for every member and as we head to break, we are getting ready for the vote on the big bill and you will see it right here on fox news channel. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as plosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america.

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>> bret: welcome back to washington. looking live at the house floor and they are getting ready. they just cleared the procedural hurdle the passage of the rule. let's listen in just for a little bit. >> clear the aisle.

[gavel pounding] let the house be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan. >> mr. speaker pursuant to house resolution 844 i call up the bill h.r. 8 with the senate amendments thereto and i have a motion at the desk. >> the clerk will report the title of the bill and designate the senate amendments and designate the motion. >> hr 8 to extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003 and to provide for expedited consideration of a bill providing for comprehensive tax reform and for other purposes. senate amendments. motion by mr. camp. [gavel pounding]

>> pursuant to house resolution 844 the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair of ways and means. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. >> i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to advise and extend remarks and include extraneous material. >> i yield myself such time as i macon psalm. >> gentleman is recognized. >> i rise today to urge what a colleague from georgia called a legacy vote. making permanent the tax cuts republicans enacted back in 2001 and 2003. i couldn't agree more. and let me say why. because we are making permanent tax policies republicans originally crafted.

now, back then despite having a majority in the house, a majority in the senate and a republican in the white house, those policies were only temporary. that is because democrats refused to join republicans in providing tax relief for working families. after more than a decade of criticizing the tax cuts democrats are finally joining with republicans in making the tax cuts permanent. republicans and the american people are getting something really important. permanent tax relief. as big as that s, and it is only the first step when it comes to taxes this legislation settles the level of revenue washington should bring in. next we need to make the tax code simpler and fairer for families and small businesses. and we need to pursue comprehensive and fundamental tax reform to create the jobs we need and to make american businesses and workers competitive in the global marketplace. simply put, the tax code is a

nightmare. it is too complex. too time consuming. and too costly. about 60% of individual taxpayers have to hire others to do their tax returns because the code is too complicated. as a result, if tax compliance were an industry it would be one of the largest in the united states and would consume 6.1 billion hours the equivalent of more than 3 million full-time workers. it is too costly. in 2008 alone taxpayers spent $163 billion complying with the individual and corporate income tax rules. add to that the fact that the u.s. has the highest corporate tax rate in the o.e.c.d. and an outkated worldwide system of taxation and it is not too difficult to imagine why many don't view america as an attractive place to invest and hire. nothing about the bill we are considering tonight changes any of those realities. that is why the ways around

means committee will pursue comprehensive tax reform in the next congress. so by making republican tax cuts permanent we are one step closer to comprehensive tax reform that will help strengthen our economy and create more and higher pay checks for american workers. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and get us one step closer to tax reform and i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman's time is reserved. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin. >> i yield myself such time as i shall consume. >> the gentleman is recognize. >> this is a bipartisan bill and i will try to keep it within that spirit to the extent possible. as we are here today on january 1, hours away from people, americans returning to work markets reopening around the world, around the world, and all eyes focusing on whether this institution can

govern, this legislation allow os us to get done what we need to get done. this bill is vital for our nation's economic well -being and i want to emphasize for its standing as the world's most important economy. it is vital for 114 million middle class families whose tax cuts are made permanent. it is vital for two million unemployed american workers who need continuation of their insurance while they continue to look for work. it is vital for 30 million middle income americans who otherwise would have been hit by the alternative minimum tax. and it is vital for 25 and i emphasize this, 25 million working families and students who benefit from the child tax credit, the earned income tax

credit and the -- >> gretchen: senator levin is the top democrat on the the house ways and means committee and before that you heard from dave camp the chairman. we will be back after this short break and talk about what congressman le venice is talking burks the market -- levin is talking about, the markets.

>> bret: looking live at the house floor here mckinley, washington, where the house of representatives is now debating the senate-passed bill dealing with the fiscal cliff. right now talking congressman darryl issa. let's listen in. >> in the last night tore the last two days of a congress to say that two months from now a new congress s going to do what we are not doing here today is not something i can bring myself to do. i would like to vote for this because i do vote for lower taxes. i want americans to have lower taxes. but the other day in conference one of my colleagues pointed out that if in fact you are spending the money you are

taxing our future generation. we are taxing $1.2 trillion next year. we are taxing $1.2 trillion. we won't collect it. but we are taxing $1.2 trillion of deficit. the chairman of the committee of the ways and means committee mr. camp rightfully so said we are also not simplifying the tax code. we are not making it better or fairer. we are not getting rid of the nascar loophole. we are not getting rid of the electric motor scooter low speed lop hole. we are not getting rid of a whole lot of tax things that are here but most importantly we are not taking things that the president himself said he would be for like getting the calculation of change cpi of the consumer price index for social security and federal workforce and pensions right which would in fact reduce the deficit going forward. so because of what we are not doing i cannot believe that

this tax cut will in fact be followed with the spending cuts to offset any part of the $4 trillion we are putting on the backs of future generations. so i thank all of you who will vote for it. >> bret: congressman daryl ice saying he will not vote for the legislation. joining me now, the portfolio manager at capitalist pig .com. jonathan, the asian markets have opened. they have been open for a news and looks like they are seeing tentative gains with potentially looking at this deal up about 1% at this point. your thoughts on the market reaction to all of this in washington? >> well, it is a little early to know he just yet. last the markets worldwide just opening after the new year's holidays. our own markets aren't open yet. so far tentative.

the u.s. dollar is down and gold is up. my opinion is that markets in general will be happy to see any resolution to what has been a serious debacle going on for weeks. unfortunately, it doesn't address as many of the previous speakers have talked about the underlying core issues here. this is a problem of spending in which spending is not addressed at all. in fact, it is increased as darryl issa pointed out. many of the loopholes for nasa and green energy remains. taxes for the biggest wealthiest producers go up as well. hard to find that longer term markets will find anything to cheer about in what should have been a spending cut didn't happen in the bill. >> bret: i want to listen in to nancy pelosi who is on the floor now. >> it was legislation that he helped negotiate working with the republican and democratic leaders in the united senate. it was a remarkable accomplishment because as we

all know while we share the same goals we sometimes have different paths to achieving them and reconciling our differences was a monumental task especially with the time growing short. so we appreciate the leadership -- we appreciate the leadership of the vice president. we appreciate the leadership of the republican and democratic leaders in the senate. and we thank speaker boehner for bringing this legislation to the floor. hopefully we can duplicate the strong bipartisan vote that the legislation received in the united states senate. and why is that important? it is important because the american -- >> bret: minority leader nancy pelosi thanking the speaker for bringing the bill to the floor. jonathan, a minute here before the top of the hour. your concern, the market's concern about the long-term debt situation really this debt ceiling debate over the next six wes